Real Steel

Real Steel is a 2011 American science fiction film starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Shawn Levy. The film is based on the 1956 short story "Steel" by Richard Matheson, though Levy placed the film in U.S. state fairs and other "old-fashioned" Americana settings. Real Steel was in development for several years before production began on June 11, 2010. Filming took place primarily in the U.S. state of Michigan. Animatronic robots were built for the film, and motion capture technology was used to depict the brawling of computer-generated robots and animatronics. Real Steel was publicly released in Australia on October 6, 2011 and in the United States and Canada on October 7, 2011 to mixed to positive reviews. It was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters.

In 2020, humans have been replaced by robots in boxing. Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is a former boxer who attempts to get money in illegal boxing matches between robots to pay his debts to loan sharks. During a fight, Charlie's robot, Ambush, is destroyed by Black Thunder, a bull belonging to Ricky (Kevin Durand). Having made a bet that Ambush would win, Charlie now owes Ricky $20,000, which he doesn't pay before leaving.

Charlie is informed his ex-girlfriend has died, and he has to attend a meeting to decide the fate of his preteen son Max (Dakota Goyo). Max's aunt Debra (Hope Davis) and uncle Marvin (James Rebhorn) want full custody, and Charlie gives it to them in exchange for $100,000 from Marvin, $50,000 of it in advance, on the condition that Charlie takes care of Max for three months, while Marvin and Debra are away on a second honeymoon.

Charlie and Max meet with Charlie's friend Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Lilly), who runs the boxing gym of her deceased father, Charlie's old coach. There, Charlie buys a secondhand WRB league robot, the once-famous Noisy Boy, and arranges for it to fight the illegal circuit's champion, Midas, at a venue belonging to his friend Finn (Anthony Mackie). Partly due to his inexperience with Noisy Boy's combinations, Charlie ends up losing control of Noisy Boy and Midas destroys it.

Charlie breaks into a junkyard with Max to steal scraps that he can use to put a new robot together. There, Max falls over a ledge, where he is saved from doom after being snagged by a lodged and buried robot arm. After Charlie pulls him back up, Max uncovers the entire robot, called Atom. On Max's insistence, Charlie takes it back to Bailey's gym, where they discover Atom is an obsolete Generation-2 sparring bot built in 2014. Atom has been designed to sustain massive damage, but is unable to deal out much damage itself. Max convinces Charlie to get Atom a fight, and upgrades it to take vocal commands using spare parts from Noisy Boy and Ambush.

Charlie and Max take Atom to fight an unsanctioned outdoor match against a robot called Metro, and Atom wins, earning back some of Charlie's money. Atom's string of subsequent wins and high speed humanoid boxing maneuvers which are rarely seen from a robot, attracts the attention of a promoter from the World Robot Boxing league (WRB), who offers Atom a professional fight against a robot called Twin Cities. Charlie accepts, and Atom wins again, thanks to Charlie's knowledge of boxing, which allows him to locate a design flaw in Twin Cities. Taking advantage of Atom's subsequent novelty attention, Max challenges WRB champion Zeus, designed by arrogant genius Tak Mashido (Karl Yune) and sponsored by rich Russian Farra Lemcova (Olga Fonda), who accepts, but first tries to buy the upstart Atom.

As they leave the Twin Cities fight, Charlie is attacked by Ricky and his men, who beat him severely, assault Max and steal their money. Feeling guilty, Charlie returns Max to his aunt and uncle so they can protect him, but Bailey convinces him he can be a better father to Max. Debra allows him one more chance, and Charlie takes Max to the Zeus-Atom match. Zeus severely damages Atom — while also getting injured, a first for Zeus. In addition, by the end of the first round, Ricky ends up being led away by Finn and some of his men to pay up and presumably beat him up (earlier, he bet $100,000 that Atom wouldn't last the first round). In the last round of the five-round match, Atom's vocal receptors are damaged, and Atom must fight in shadow-boxing mode, copying Charlie's moves from the aisle. Zeus, now controlled manually by a very furious Tak Mashido, expends energy on pummeling the defensive Atom. After Zeus runs very low on power, Atom begins to heavily damage Zeus, even knocking the seemingly invincible champion down once, but doesn't win before the round ends, and the judges declare a winner on points. They favor Zeus, but his reputation is tarnished, and Atom has become famous as "The People's Champion".

The Thing

The Thing is a 2011 science-fiction horror film directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., and written by Eric Heisserer and Ronald D. Moore. It is a prequel to the 1982 film of the same name by John Carpenter, the plot taking place immediately prior to the events of that film. It stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton who are part of a team of Norwegian and American scientists who discover an alien buried deep in the ice of Antarctica, realizing too late that it is still alive, consuming then imitating the team members.

In 1982, paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is recruited by scientists Dr. Sander Halversen (Ulrich Thomsen) and his assistant Adam Goodman (Eric Christian Olsen) to join a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across a crashed extraterrestrial spaceship buried beneath the ice of Antarctica. They discover the frozen corpse of a creature that seems to have died in the crash 100,000 years ago.

After the creature is transported back to base in a block of ice, Dr. Sander orders them to conduct an experiment to retrieve a tissue sample, against Kate's protests. Later, while the others celebrate, American helicopter pilot Derek Jameson (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) sees the Thing escape from the block of ice. The team splits up into groups to search for the alien. Olav (Jan Gunnar Røise) and Henrik (Jo Adrian Haavind) discover it hiding under one of the buildings. The Thing grabs Henrik and pulls him into its body. The others converge on the scene and set it and the entire building on fire. In the chaotic aftermath, the lone dog of the team is found dead in a bloody heap in its kennel, a massive hole torn in the wire mesh.

During an autopsy, Kate and Dr. Sander discover that the creature was somehow digesting Henrik's body. Based on an examination of a sample of Henrik's tissue, Kate determines that the cells of the Thing were attaching to, absorbing, and imitating Henrik's cells. Meanwhile, Derek, pilot Sam Carter (Joel Edgerton), Griggs (Paul Braunstein), and Olav prepare to leave the base in the only helicopter to bring back help. Just as they prepare to take off, Kate discovers four bloody, discarded metal tooth fillings and a massive amount of blood on the shower walls and floor. She runs outside to flag down the departing helicopter, fearing that one of the passengers is the Thing. When Carter decides to land, Griggs, who is really one of the Things, transforms and kills Olav, causing the helicopter to spin wildly out of control and crash, presumably killing all onboard.

In the rec room, Kate tells the other scientists her theory on the nature of the creature: It is perfectly capable of imitating any life form, but cannot imitate inorganic material such as metal, hence why it spit out the tooth fillings. Most of the team members either do not believe her or accuse her of turning them against each other out of paranoia. After everyone else leaves, Juliette (Kim Bubbs) tells Kate that she believes her, and says that she saw Colin (Jonathan Lloyd Walker) leave the shower with some sort of towel or rag. Juliette tells Kate that she knows where they keep the keys to all the vehicles, and that they can take them to prevent anyone else from leaving; however, when the two are alone in the storeroom where the keys are, Juliette transforms and attempts to kill Kate. Kate escapes, running past Karl (Carsten Bjørnlund), who is killed by the Juliette-Thing. Dog handler Lars (Jørgen Langhelle) arrives with a flamethrower and burns the Thing as it assimilates Karl.

As they burn the remains outside, Carter and Derek return, both half-frozen and barely alive. While Peder and Sander both immediately believe that both are Things and should be burned, Kate convinces them to simply lock them in a storage shed until a test can be prepared. Afterward, Adam and Sander are in the lab preparing a potential test, but when both leave for a short while, the lab is suddenly engulfed in flames in an apparent sabotage. Tensions rise as accusations by both the Norwegians and the Americans are made, but Kate proposes another, much simpler test to single out those who might be the Thing from those who aren't. With Peder manning the flamethrower, she uses a flashlight to inspect the teeth of all the other team members to see who has fillings and who doesn't. This test singles out Adam, Dr. Sander, station commander Edvard (Trond Espen Seim), and Colin. Peder sends Lars and Jonas (Kristofer Hivju) out to bring back Carter and Derek, but they have tunneled out the floor of the storage shed and into a neighboring building. While Lars leans in the doorway of the other building, they grab him and pull him inside. Jonas runs back and pleads with Peder to help him rescue Lars, but Kate orders him to guard the prisoners.

During the argument, Carter and Derek force their way inside, armed with Lars's flamethrower. Edvard repeatedly pushes Peder to burn both of them, assuming that they have killed Lars and deserve retribution. But when Peder takes aim, Derek shoots him three times, puncturing his flamethrower's tank and causing an explosion that kills Peder and renders Edvard unconscious. When Edvard is brought back to the rec room, he transforms into the Thing and kills Jonas, Adam, and Derek while Sander runs off to hide. Colin, Carter, and Kate head off in a group to hunt it down, but Colin is eventually separated from them. The Thing, which is now in the form of a creature with the faces of both Edvard and Adam, finds and kills Dr. Sander. The monster manages to separate Carter from Kate and traps him in the kitchen. Just as it is about to kill him, Kate arrives and torches the monster.

Kate and Carter see the Sander-Thing driving off in one of the Snowcats and give chase in the remaining vehicle. They follow it out to the wreck of its ship, which has been opened up and restarted, slowly preparing to take off. Kate and Carter are separated once again and Kate encounters the Thing. She barely manages to stay out of its reach, and when it finally catches her, she destroys it with a grenade. She and Carter escape and make it back to the Snowcat. As they are preparing to leave, Kate notices that Carter is missing his left ear piercing and determines that he is one of the Things. Despite his protests, she burns him and destroys the Snowcat. Kate slowly climbs into the remaining Snowcat and stares blankly into the night.

The next morning, a Norwegian helicopter pilot, Matias (Ole Martin Aune Nilsen), arrives at the Norwegian camp in a two-man helicopter and finds the facility burning and deserted, as well as the charred remains of the two-faced Thing. It is then revealed that Colin went into the radio room and committed suicide by slitting both of his wrists and his throat with a scalpel. Lars, who has survived hiding in the building where Derek and Carter attacked him, shoots at Matias but recognizes that he is human after checking his fillings. At that moment, the Thing in the form of Lars' dog bolts out of a ruined building and runs away. Lars fires at it, then orders Matias to take off in pursuit. Lars begins shooting at the animal from the helicopter, directly leading into the beginning of John Carpenter's The Thing.

Dolphin Tale

Dolphin Tale is a 2011 family drama film directed by Charles Martin Smith from a screenplay by Karen Janszen and Noam Dromi starring Harry Connick, Jr., Ashley Judd, and Morgan Freeman, and is based on the book of the same name. The film is "inspired by the amazing true story of Winter", a bottlenose dolphin that was rescued in December 2005 off the Florida coast and taken in by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, in the process losing its tail and having to be fitted with a prosthetic one.

The initial scenes of the movie show a school of dolphins in their natural state, followed by a crab fisherman returning a crab trap to the ocean after emptying the trap of its contents. Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble) is biking along the beach when a fisherman calls for help after finding an injured bottlenose dolphin tangled in a crab trap. The two call for assistance, and rescue workers from the Clearwater Marine Hospital, run by Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.), take the injured dolphin for treatment. Clay's daughter Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) names the dolphin Winter, as two prior dolphins (Summer and Autumn) were successfully returned to the ocean, and believes that using seasons as names will continue the streak. She allows Sawyer to see Winter; Clay initially does not like the arrangement since Sawyer is not trained in marine animal care; however, after noticing that Winter responds well whenever Sawyer is around, he is allowed to visit. Afterwards Sawyer (who was enrolled in summer school due to him failing or nearly failing all his classes during the year) skips classes to daily visit Winter.

Unfortunately, Winter's tail is irreparably damaged and thus must be amputated. Sawyer's mother Lorraine (Ashley Judd) finds out about Sawyer skipping classes, but after seeing that Sawyer's interaction with Winter has improved his moods and well-being (something Sawyer had not shown since being abandoned by his father who disappeared while going on a visit five years earlier), she withdraws him from summer school and allows him to volunteer at the hospital. Winter learns to swim without a tail by developing a side-to-side motion (like a fish), but after an x-ray Dr. Haskett notices that the unnatural motion is causing stress on her spine; if continued the motion will eventually kill her.

Meanwhile, Sawyer's cousin Kyle, a champion swimmer, returns from the military with a damaged right leg from an explosion (later requiring amputation). Sawyer visits him at the local Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he meets Dr. Cameron McCarthy (played by Morgan Freeman) who specializes in prosthetics. Sawyer thinks that a prosthetic tail may be the solution for Winter's future health and asks Dr. McCarthy to assist; he agrees to work on the project during his upcoming vacation, and convinces his prosthetic supplier (Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics, who supplies Winter's real-life tails) to supply the parts at no cost. Dr. McCarthy manufactures a "homemade" model tail while waiting for the real one to arrive; however, Winter destroys it by banging it in the pool.

Shortly thereafter the hospital (already in financial straits) is seriously damaged by "Hurricane LeRoy", whereupon the board of directors agree to close the hospital, sell the land to a real estate developer, and find homes for the other residents (except Winter, who due to her condition is not relocatable and may have to be euthanized). However, after a chance encounter with a mother and daughter (who heard about Winter's story and drove all the way from Atlanta to see her; the daughter is also missing a left leg), Sawyer comes up with a last-chance plan, "Save Winter Day", to save the facility. Dr. Haskett is not sold on the idea, but reconsiders after talking with his father, Reed (Kris Kristofferson). Kyle agrees to a race against Donovan (who followed him at high school and broke nearly all his prior swim records) and enlists a female friend at Bay News 9 to promote the event.

The Hanger-supplied tail finally arrives; however, Winter damages it as well. Sawyer discovers that Winter isn't rejecting the tail; instead, the sock to which the tail is attached is irritating her skin. Dr. McCarthy comes up with an alternative gel-like sock (which he calls "WintersGel", the real-life name of the Hanger product used to attach prosthetic limbs, which was developed during its research with Winter); and finally on Save Winter Day she is able to accept the new sock and tail. At Save Winter Day, Sawyer's teacher gives him credit for his work at the hospital; thus, Sawyer has passed summer school despite not attending formal classes. The fisherman who initially spotted Winter places $40 in the donation jar (saying "we have a history together"). The board learned that the real estate deal closed (thus selling the facility); however, the developer (who attended the event with his grandchildren) agrees to allow the hospital to remain open.

The ending shows scenes from Winter's actual rescue in December 2005, several of the prosthetic tails that Winter has worn, and scenes from real amputees who have visited Winter at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.